Step 2: The End!

Step 3: GO GREEN!!!!!

I publish this instructable in hopes that everyone will be able to free OS-deprived, hopeless computers from the junkyard. Microsoft overprices their ...

This is my first Instructable!!! I'll show you how to bypass that annoying activation screen that Windows gives you after your 30 days are up. Microsoft requires you to enter a valid Product key within 30 days of installing Windows. It's a little trick to prevent piracy of their software. I'll show you how to get around that and use Windows normally, and access the Desktop and Start Bar just like you normally would, at least until you acquire a valid product key from Microsoft. Note:I Will be using Windows XP Home Edition. Any other XP version should work as well.

Disclaimer:Whether you use this information to retrieve files after windows locks up or to access your computer without having to purchase a new CD from Windows, I suggest researching the laws concerning these types of activities before attempting them. I do not support piracy but I do believe users should have access to Windows, i.e. their personal files even in the event of an invalid/used product key.

Step 1: Step 1 - Login to your Account and access Explorer

Step 1:Turn on your computer and login to your account. You get a message telling you that you need to activate your product, Click Yes and the Activate Windows screen will load. Now press the windows key + U and Microsoft Narrator should pop up. Click OK for the little disclaimer Narrator gives you and behind it will be the Narrator option screen. In the top left of the Narrator option screen, you'll see a little computer icon, click it and a drop-down menu will appear. Click on About Narrator. On the next pop-up, click the link Microsoft Web site. You now have access to Internet Explorer!!! Whether you have an internet connection at the time or not, it doesn't matter, we aren't actually trying to get online.

Now we are going to access your desktop and Start bar. In the address bar, type: C:\WINDOWS\explorer.exe and press enter.

VOILA! You have access to your entire computer just like you normally would! Don't close Narrator though, because windows tends to realize what you're doing and reset back to the Activation screen. It's not bullet-proof, sometimes my computer will reset back to the activation screen, but you can just do the same thing again as many times as you want!

I just got a product key from www.vanskeys.com. it worked perfectly. i'm so excited to share my experience here.their customer service is 1st class and I will definitely be recommending the site and I will be using the site again.

1. Click the "Start" button. Then click "Run" and type in "regedit" minus the quotes. Click "OK" and the Registry Editor will appear. 2. Scroll through the list of entries and find "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\WPAEvents." Click it once to see what is inside of the entry. 3. Select "OOBETimer" within the entry and change the value to "FF D5 71 D6 8B 6A 8D 6F D5 33 93 FD" minus the quotes. Hit "OK" to confirm the change. 4. Right-click "WPAEvents" and select "Permissions." Then click "System" and "Permissions for System." 5. Click all the boxes under the "Deny" field so that they are all checked. This prevents Windows from re-activating WPA. 6. Click "OK" and then exit Registry Editor. WPA will now be disabled. If it is not, simply repeat steps 1 to 4 to re-disable it, which Windows will not be able to reverse now that you've denied the System privileges to change the values.

If you get stuck in the infinite activation loop like kmjruth, go into standard safe mode (without networking or command) and roll back the Oobetimer to EB 54 8C C6 0E 45 17 59 55 5B F4 30 (zeroes not O's). Then reboot and going back into safe mode type cmd in the run prompt. Then as admin and use trial the "rundll32.exe syssetup,SetOobeBnk" that romeroo mentioned. I had the same problem as kmjruth because I set the permissions in step 5 to deny as administrators...*Very important* to check both deny boxes "full control and read" **under the correct SYSTEM profile** not administrator profile in the security tab.

It will work perfectly, but do not make the mistake of going online for windows updates; you will end up not being able to log in (see kmjruth's post of March 15, 2011: "I did this and now when I go to login I still get the activation box...if I say yes to activate it tells me windows is already activated and brings me back to the login screen....if I say no it brings me back to the login screen")

Instead of activating, reset your Windows XP O.S. to 30 more days to try out, also called a 30 day trial reset. First you need to load in 'safe mode' then click Start and then click 'Run.' Once the 'Run' window opens type "CMD" without the quotes. Inside the 'cmd.exe' window type, "rundll32.exe syssetup,SetOobeBnk" without the quotes (Pay attention to the capital letters) hit enter; wait about 9 secs to complete the task and restart your computer. Done.!

Dude, You Rock! My company had this old system which had been installed with new HDD and hence Windows XP Professional had been reinstalled. It was brought to my notice that windows needed activation after 30 days. Thanks to your post I could open my computer, set up the network adapter and activate windows.

Great stuff. Never thought I would ever need this but had to do this for my fathers workshop pc today. It's got a legal version of windows but was never activated. I had to get past that screen to setup network settings (to my dsl modem) so I can activate online AND yes it doesn't last very long then you get logged back out. Just work fast :)

I did this and now when I go to login I still get the activation box...if I say yes to activate it tells me windows is already activated and brings me back to the login screen....if I say no it brings me back to the login screen.

hey there kmjruth,i have only juzt joined n' u may already have thiz one sorted out but if not...juz put in the original os disk u uzed 2 inztall the os, in cd-rom drive, restart n' when u get to second 'r'' for repair, clk on the 'r' and windowz wil proceed 2 reinztall the os but it doezn't elimin8 anything, it juz replacez all the filez that the os put on in the 1zt place, that will fix ur activated-not-activated dilemma.warm regardzjakkadan

If you do not have Internet Explorer as your default browser, but instead use something such as, say, FireFox, then this will not work. Instead, press ctrl+o, browse to "C:\WINDOWS\explorer.exe", click open. When prompted, click save. Then, in the downloads screen, double click it. Press ctrl+j, then click it all times afterwards.

This sort of information is extremely valuable. What happens in 10 years' time when someone is still running XP because there has been no NEED to upgrade (depending on the tasks for which the machine is used) and MS won't authorize a re-installation?

This WPA system is really going to come back and bite them in the @$$.

You could do some research and find a distro of GNU/Linux that will work with the machines specs. Ubuntu Linux at www.ubuntu.com is a great, very easy to use, modern operating system and it is free! Then, there is Damn Small Linux that runs on very few resources. Old machines like that can also be used as servers or firewalls. If you get the machines working with a good, working, legal operating system and if you don't need them, you might also consider donating them to people who can't afford to buy a computer and in that you would get the computers out of the junk pile and help someone less fortunate in the process.

Linux Ubuntu 8.10 is not hard to use, just a little different. I tried a duel boot Windows XP and Ubuntu system after a friend gave me a free Ubuntu Live-CD. After a couple of weeks with Ubuntu I came to detest XP. I subsequently removed XP and now only use Linux. Try Linux using Ubuntu and several other distributions until you find one you like.